IHRB is a legal impossibility

It is a legal impossibility for IHRB to exist as a hair regrowth business. And here’s why: There is not a single proven non-medical hair regrowth product on Earth. The only effective treatments use medical products.

Sam Cohen was never licensed to supply or sell any medications. The Police raid on IHRB netted large quantities of medications, which included Loniten, Finasteride, and Minoxidil. These are the tools-of-the-trade for IHRB. These medications are the reason that some IHRB clients enjoy hair regrowth. While under Oath at CTTT, Sam Cohen has said that these medications, on their own, would hardly be ‘a flash in the pan’, and that his clients enjoy great success due to the secret extracts that he mixes into the bottles.

However, it is impossible for IHRB to exist as a legal business, promising to regrow hair, because IHRB and Sam Cohen have been issued with a Permanent Prohibition Order by the Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC). This Order makes it impossible for IHRB to ‘supply’ or ‘sell’ any products that regrow hair, because all such products are Scheduled medications. Breaching the Order would be a criminal offence. According to my evidence, I allege that IHRB has been breaching HCCC Orders. If IHRB denies breaching the Orders, then what is it advertising? Without the illegally-acquired medications, it has nothing to sell that would meet its commitment to regrow hair. Sam Cohen says that he has a secret non-medical formula that can regrow hair (yet the TGA has now stepped in to Order IHRB to stop saying such things, and to publish retractions). Sam Cohen confuses the Authorities by intermittently saying one of two things:

1) That he now asks his pharmacist to compound his medications, and that the pharmacist ships the products directly to clients. This is illegal because it would fall under the definition of ‘supply’ and ‘sell’ because the HCCC has specifically Prohibited IHRB from engaging in such a transaction. Additionally, the Pharmacy Board prohibits such a transaction to be made by any pharmacist. Sam Cohen says that he and/or his pharmacist mixes the medications with secret substances. On this point, the Pharmacy Tribunal calls it ‘repugnant’, and the AMA calls it ‘absolutely disgraceful’.

2) That he uses non-medical products to which he adds his secret formula by himself. This is illegal because, if his secret product were to grow hair, such a product would fall in the category of a ‘therapeutic’ product. All such products need to be Registered with the TGA after furnishing scientific evidence. Sam Cohen has no such evidence. He has no TGA approvals. Furthermore, his advertisements have never been Approved for publication. And his advertisements have twice been Sanctioned; and Mr Cohen has never obeyed those Sanctions. And at the time of writing this article, we note that IHRB is 22 days in breach of the TGA Orders that require IHRB to stop advertising and to stop making claims about his products.

Below we read what the HCCC said in its 22-page Statement of Decision, which says that IHRB cannot (in any way, shape, or form) have anything to do with therapeutic products.

FROM THE HEALTH CARE COMPLAINTS COMMISSION

The Commission determined that:

– Mr Cohen must not be in possession of any client prescriptions.

– Mr Cohen must not obtain, SUPPLY or SELL any medications requiring a prescription by a medical practitioner or required to be sold only by a pharmacist.

The Commission’s 22-page Determination (para 6.3) then quoted the Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Act in order to define the words SUPPLY and SELL:

SELL – includes dealing in, agreeing to sell, or offering or exposing for sale, or keeping or having in possession for sale, or sending, forwarding, delivering or receiving for sale or on sale, or authorising, directing, causing, suffering, permitting or attempting any of such acts or things.

SUPPLY – includes a) Sell, dispense and distribute b) Supply, whether by free of charge or otherwise, by way of sample or advertisement c) Agree or offer to sell or distribute d) Keep or have in possession for sale, dispensing or distribution e) Send, forward, deliver or receive for sale, dispensing or distribution.

This proves that IHRB cannot possibly be in the business of regrowing hair.

Years in breach of Sanctions

As at 19 August 2015, IHRB is 3 years & 289 days (that's 1,385 days) overdue on complying with the Sanctions set by the Complaints Resolution Panel which found that IHRB's ads have been 'unlawful, misleading, and unverified'. To learn more, see the 'Days in breach' section in the menu at the top of this page.

Days in breach of TGA Orders

As at 19 August 2015, Sam Cohen and IHRB are 544 days in breach of TGA Orders that demanded that IHRB stop its misleading, deceptive, and unlawful claims and to remove its statements from its website. The TGA also Ordered IHRB to publish a retraction on its website. Despite eventually publishing the retraction, IHRB is still in breach of these TGA Orders. Such a breach constitutes a criminal offence. To learn more, see the 'Days in breach' section in the menu at the top of this page.